Life During Lockdown
See that van, loaded with shopping,
Packed up and ready to go.
We buy our goods, we keep our secrets
In places nobody knows.
A siren sounds, off in the distance
We’re getting used to it now.
The empty parks, the empty beaches
They’re the new normal somehow.
Gone are the parties and all the discos
No one is fooling around.
No one is dancing or lovey-doving
They don’t have time for that now.
Send out a message, to meet in screen time
Hope we can catch the delay.
Moaning and bitching, on social media
Where you can hide your real name.
Their propaganda, comes to us nightly,
Autocues ready to scroll,
Where does the truth lie? What is fiction?
We may not ever get told.
In darkened depots, while trucks are loaded
We’re getting ready to walk,
Blurring the night time, into the daytime
Living our lives in the dark.
Burning down houses, we burn up notebooks,
Burn with the will to survive.
We strive for light as we speak in tongues
Yet, this burning keeps us alive.
Steve Bishop
(with thanks to Talking Heads)
valparaisobooks 